what a big, dramatic reversal on wall street today. "power lunch" all over it. begins now. lace them up! that's right. second half of the trading day does begin right now and it's getting a heck of a lot more interesting. the bulls getting a bit of a bump in the last hour. the dow, the s&p all moving up, 24, 4 and 12. those are the numbers right now. keep your eye on them. part of the reason, the market liked what appears to be some hint of bipartisanship. smiles were in place. all the right words were used. two seem after a key meeting between president obama and congressional leaders. however, a nuclear threat remains. a report that just came out a short time ago will add to worry on everything. the international nuclear agency says iran has just made some progress toward a nuclear

weapon. sue herera is off today. simon is in at the new york stock exchange and we will go to him in a moment. but our top story is inz of rising above. maybe, just maybe. john harwood at the white house as a meeting between the president and congressional leaders wrapped up within the last hour or so. john? sum it up for us. >> tyler, it's a long way to the finish line but if you want to have a positive auspicious start to the negotiations, that's exactly what we got here at the white house. president obama brought the bipartisan leaders together. he spoke from a position of confidence having just won the election but he said we need to find common ground and when the bipartisan leadership walked out of the white house and addressed reporters in the driveway, positive notes were all they were singing. here's a montage. >> the framework that i've outlined in our meeting today is consistent with the president's call for a fair and balanced approach. >> i feel very good about what we were able to talk about in

there. >> we're prepared to put revenue on the table, provided we fix the real problem. >> i feel confident that a solution may be in sight. are. >> reporter: this is just the beginning but harry reid said they're not going to wait until december 31st and go right up against the deadline so that's a positive sign. i've got to tell you, senator kent conrad, retiring chairman of the budget committee, offered in a conversation with carl quintanilla and i on "squawk on the street" a potential construct for a tax compromise, that is a sharp cut in deductions for top-end taxpayers and increase in capital gains and dividend rates but keep the top rate at 35%. long way from saying that's where they're going to end up but at least he was offering a possibility for some sort of compromise short of raising that top rate up to 39.6%. >> i'm so flattered that you just called me carl, eamon, that was wonderful. i appreciate it. the uncertainty of the fiscal cliff has been paralyzing

the market so what are investors looking for? we're going to welcome back katie nixon, chief investment officer for wealth manager at northern trust. she's got $184 billion under management. katie, are you hearing the kinds of things that encourage you that we may avert the fiscal cliff? >> well, tyler, our base case has always been that we would avert the fiscal cliff but certainly the report that we just heard from the meeting that went on today is very, very positive. we need to hear more about compromise because the lack of compromise is what's driving the volatility in the market recently. >> let's talk to individual investors, some of whose money you obviously run in funds and in other accounts and so forth. there's been a lot of selling in the stock market over the past couple of weeks. we're sort of in correction territory now from the highs. is it ever evin your view a goo idea to sell positions that you

have based on a tax hike that may or may not take place? >> that is such a great question, tyler. there's been so much discussion about resetting people's tax cost bases in light after potential tax increase. the real answer is much more nuanced than you would think. it really depends on each individual's portfolio, their objectives and their time horizon. sometimes it does make sense to take gains this year because one of the things -- >> particularly if my time who are done is shorter, i would assume. >> exactly. if you have a time horizon that's short, you know you're going to need the funds. take the tax hit this year, pay the tax in april. we know regardless of what happens with dividend capital gains tax rates and even income tax rates we know there's going to be a 3.8% medicare surtax on income over $20,000, $50,000. >> that one's not on the table here in any of these negotiations. >> that's a known known. >> as i recall, you guys have been pretty high on high-yield bonds and on dividend paying stocks. >> right.

>> here is where the rubber could really meet the road. if the rate on dividend and interest income goes from 15% to your full ordinary income rate. >> exactly. >> do i want to shy away from those kinds of stocks now or not? >> let's think about those two things separately. dividend paying stocks are in client portfolios for a couple of different reasons. one is clearly for the dividend yield but the second important reason is they tend to be very defensive stocks, high-quality defensive stocks. in the kind of mack troe environment we see going forward, we still think there is a place for those high-quality defensive stocks so there is a thesis there apart from the dividend. but, getting on to the high-yield question, with a higher tax rate next year, what it does is i think it makes it quite important for investors to think about asset location and perhaps there's a more efficient place to hold these assets that are becoming less tax efficient. for instance, hold them in your i.r.a. don't hold them in your taxable account. >> let's channel our inner howie

mandel, deal or no deal on the fiscal cliff? >> we think deal but not this year. we think there will be a deal around the framework potentially but that the real tax and entitlement reform discussions will have to be hammered out in 2013. >> katie nixon, thanks for being with us. let's hear what washington has to say and we'll talk about that more later on this hour of -- >> tyler, despite what could be positive developments, our economy is still of course to a certain extent being held hostage as we await the outcome of those talks. representative adam schiff is a democrat. he joins us from california. welcome to the program, sir. we watched the four leaders come out. there seemed to be a sort of optimism. do you agree with what harry reid suggested, that we could have a deal before december 31? >> yes, i do. i think not only could we, but we have to. we have to come to agreement on this. it is not something that can be solved by either party acting

alone. we need to reach a reasonable compromise that will reflect a shared sacrifice. my hope though, simon, is that it is not an agreement to kick the can down the road, it is not an agreement to agree later. we really ought to resolve as many of these questions as we can now because we've been kick being the can down the road for a long time and i think that's very unhelpful to business, very unhelpful for families that want a to plan their economic future. so i'm hoping that it's more than an agreement on a framework. >> so already on the table from the republican side on the net we have the idea being floated that maybe for the rich, sharp cuts deductions they're able to make, a hiking capital gains tax, a hike in what they pay on dividends but the main marginal tax rate remains the same and that might be squared by all sides. in return, what would you democrats give on entitlements? how far can you guys go? >> i think there's certainly a willingness to make the hard

decisions in terms of spending cuts and for each dollar we get new revenue, i think we ought to have an equivalent amount in spending cuts. we've already undertaken a very difficult amount of cuts and these are going to be hard, they're going to be painful. but i think there's a lot of room for us to come to agreement on what those cuts ought to look like. in terms of some of the entitlement programs, i don't think that we should be attacking programs that we're not responsible for our deficit and debt. they do have long-term fiscal challenges that we're going to have to wrestle with but i don't know that we need to wrestle with those between now and the end of the year. i'd rather we focus on what got us into the hole we're in. >> hold on a second. if the republicans are able to go against grover norquist, if they're prepared to have a greater tax take on the rich, certainly you'll have to come through on medicare and medicaid. that's simply symmetry, isn't it? >> well, it is symmetry that if they will come through and allow greater revenues we'll come through with spending cuts. i don't know that the

entitlement programs necessarily have to be part of this ekwigs. there is i think a stronger case that medicare and medicaid, to the degree that they affect overall expenditures on health care, have more of a role and that certainly a more immediate problem in terms of the long-term fiscal health of medicare and medicaid. but i'm not all that optimistic that on those issues of that magnitude we're going to get to an agreement between now and the end of the year. >> then where? you set the framework of the quid pro quo on the cuts. then where do the cuts come from? because that surely is the bulk of the expenditure, the bulk of the problem. >> it's not the bulk of what got us into the deficit and debt problem that we have. it is a challenge that we have to meet, but we are going to have to look for spending cuts and i think there's plenty of room if we agree, for example, on an equivalent amount of new revenues and new spending cuts, we sit down and agree on where those spending cuts come from. that's going to be painful for many of us on my side of the

aisle. but there is a willingness to share the sacrifice as long as it is done in a fairway that doesn't impose all of the obligation and burden on middle class families or those struggling to enter the middle class. >> congressman, it is good to see you. thank you very much for your time, adam schiff representing california. thank you. great questions there, by the way. former cia director david petraeus was answering questions on capitol hill today but not about the scandal that led to him resigning. in a private hearing, he told lawmakers that he believed all along that the attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi, libya was a terrorist strike despite how the white house initially portrayed it. of the scandal that led him to resign, petraeus expressed his regret about the circumstances of his departure but said nothing more. simon? two major breaking stories right now impacting the oil market. there's been an explosion on an oil rig in the gulf of mexico off the coast of venice, louisiana. a company called black elk

energy operates that rig. reports are that a worker may have cut a line with a settling torch. four people have been rushed to the hospital, two are reportedly still missing. so far we have no reports of oil actually leaking into the gulf. meanwhile, also breaking right now, the u.n. nuclear agency says iran is about to double output of higher enriched uranium. now that is a material that can easily be turned, we're told, into a nuclear warhead. sharon epperson is following the oil impact on both of those breaking stories. sharon, over to you. >> brent crude prices are higher as well as wti but you may expect that they would have been even higher based on the news that we're hearing. we do see brent crude futures above $108 a barrel and wti futures near the $87 mark. we are seeing a continuation of pretty big spread though between these two contracts. traders here on the floor are telling me that's what lets you

know it is what is happening in the middle east, it is the iran report, it is also what we are seeing in terms of the oil rig on the gulf that's lifting the oil price. traders do not want to be short going into the weekend. it is a very jittery market here and they are afraid of those positions that they may have that were on the short side. the low in the wti contract was around $85 a barrel earlier this morning. so we have seen a significant rise there. as we're continuing to monitor what's happening there in the gulf of mexico, again it does appear that no production was impacted because there was no production coming from that particular platform. but we are continuing to watch the situation and it just lets you know how generally these markets are, how nervous traders are here going into the weekend. back to you. sharon, thank you. another thing that's making many traders nervous is this -- a few hours ago hamas tried to shell jerusalem. the rockets did fall short. had they hit the city, it would have been the first time since the 1967 six-day war that jerusalem had been hit by rocket

fire. israel now considering calling up 75,000 reservists. that is a big deal. this picture near the gaza-israel front just came in. israeli crews preparing tanks for a possible ground incursion now. here is video of israel intercepting a rocket fired from gaza heading for a town in the southern part of the country. in the two days since israel killed hamas' military leader in response to a wave of rocket attacks against civilians in southern israel, israel's main stock index, the tel aviv 25, has fallen 2.5%. tel aviv stock exchange operates sunday to thursday. it's therefore not open today. israel stocks that trade in the u.s., of course, are active today, and that includes -- look at that picture. that includes teva down 4% for the week. givin, down 4%. they are the ones that put the

camera in the pill. internet security firm checkpoint down 2%. israel's cell com is up this week based on solid earnings. israel's last major fight before this was also in gaza. in 2008 and '09, the israeli market was 12% higher just one month after the fighting ended from where the market was at the beginning of the war. in 2006, israel fought a month-long war against hezbollah in lebanon. the israeli market rose 5% two months after the cease-fire went into effect from where it stood at the start of the war. israel's biggest brokerage firm is a company called psagot. "i think this pattern is likely to be followed again in the current flare-up if no significant widening of the conflict takes place." simon? tyler, we are losing traction here, just 17 points up on the dow. let's get a "market flash" with jackie. dell shares at a 3 1/2

year-low, one of the worst performers on the s&p today, currently down nearly 7%. this after the company missed on the top and bottom lines last night when it reported its third quarter. i did listen to the conference call. obviously a lot of problems still with the pc space on the consumer side. also saying that demand is weak in the emerging markets. obviously there are issues in europe right now. some weakness in china. the company couldn't really give a good vision on when some of these issues would change. that's sending the stock down. dell shares right now 8.91%. up next on the program, vee we haven't seen so far. much closer to home of the storm and how it burst in the train. it's happened three times since june -- another delay at united. yesterday's delay, how much damage will it cause united and its frequent flyers? we'll talk about that when "power lunch" returns. if congress does not reach

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welcome back to "power lunch." looking at pulte group right now, it is the best performer on the s&p 500. the stock up about 4.4%. there is a headline out that they filed with the s.e.c. for a

new principal accounting officer that would be effective after the company files its 10-k. not sure that's exactly moving the stock here. but best performer on the s&p 500. $15.91 for pulte. check out this new video that's coming in from the new york port authority which operates the path train which is a subway service basically between new jersey and manhattan on the night that super storm sandy hit. you can see the floodwaters gathering outside, then bursting through the doors leading to the path train platform, then to the path tunnels. path train restarted limited service just this week. >> amazing pictures. just astounding. one of the train services in my town, simon, just began i believe it was on wednesday because it uses some of those very same tunnels. look at that. wow! united's flight delay problem yesterday may prove to be bigger than they want it. phil lebeau live with the details in chicago. >> the interesting thing is whether or not we're going to

see residual damage from this third delay at united. there's no indication at this point that there is but clearly people are still talking about what happened yesterday. essentially it comes down to this. there was a computer software glitch that led to the flight delays thursday morning. most of those delays in a period of two hours. fewer than 200 flights were affected. united, however, has had three of these types of computer outages since june and we thought, listen, has this impacted the way people look at united as far as an investment? look at stock over the last six months. yes. it's fallen off. but all of the airline stocks fell off in the summertime as jet fuel prices moved higher. for united, they say november's on-time performance right now -- they're about 85%. if that's the case, if it holds up, that would be a good performance for the month, probably above the industry average. united says it has fixed past problems integrating the computer programs. they say they're past these problems but they clearly have some work to do. compare united against the nyse airline index. look at that, guys. it essentially is trading where

the index is if you go back and look at it year to date. for as much as people are going to be talking about this delay and whether united has licked these problems, look at how the investors have reacted. >> phil, thank you very much. certainly one thing we know, virtually everywhere you turn now the business community is telling washington to get with it and to deal now with the fiscal cliff and the budget crisis. next on this program, next on "power lunch," new numbers that show just what is actually at stake. united states may soon become no longer the best place for people with big ideas to come and flourish. if congress does not pass a budget, salaries for employees of the food safety and inspection service will be cut by $86 million resulting in 20 million hours of forced furlough for its 10,000 employees. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 this morning, i'm going to trade in hong kong. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 after that, it's on to germany. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 then tonight, i'm trading 9500 miles away in japan.

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welcome back to "power lunch." i'm eamon javers in washington with breaking news. senator chuck grassley says he's got new information on batterymaker a123. it's been a controversial company whose failure has been blamed, in part, on the obama administration. grassley releasing a statement just a few minutes ago saying that the very day that a123 filed for bankruptcy, the department of energy sent the company a check for nearly $1 million. grassley saying that this paints a disturbing picture. he says the department of energy is writing checks to a company

literally as it is declaring bankruptcy. he's also saying that a private company and federal grant recipient has provided now more disclosure about its operations and assurances will intellectual property and national security than our own department of energy has provided. grassley saying he's gotten this information directly from a123. not the department of energy. this all plays into the controversial over whether the department of energy or federal government ought to be funding some of these alternative energy start-ups which have not had such a great track record. >> eamon javers, thank you. welcome back to "power lunch." all this week on cnbc we have been focusing on entrepreneurs. the folks that may help lead the struggling economy back to a greater level of vitality. but a stunning report from deloitte out just today shows that the united states may be in danger of losing its edge as the best place for entrepreneurs. here in a cnbc exclusive, tom mcgee, national managing partner of deloitte.

so one of the last times you did a survey like this, 90% of the entrepreneurs said the united states was a best place to open a new business. this time, only 60%. that ask a 33% decline. why? >> i think there is a number of factors around that. the survey population of mid market companies, companies between $10 million to $1 billion of revenue. i think there are individual factors. concerns about tax policy, regulatory costs, et cetera. for the most part they'd like both of those to be lower. but i think the bigger issue and bigger factor is really just the uncertainty in the broader marketplace. i know today on this program and just generally we've been talking about the fiscal cliff in this country. just the longer term budget deficit and those challenges. i think mid market executives recognize that whatever the conclusion is to those things could have an implication -- >> certainly the tax policy issues, budget things, fiscal cliff, that's a level of

uncertainty. but there's always uncertainty in the economy. always. >> i think it's interesting. there is always uncertainty in the economy. if you look at the -- over the course of the last two years, the consistent theme has been uncertainty. but i think the level of intensity around this concern of uncertainty is really at its height right now. it's really at an inflection point. if you're a mid market business executi executive, what's important is the i have been verse -- is the inverse of uncertainty which is predictability. understand being the long term tax policy, et cetera, as you make hiring and investment decisions. >> let's speculate. if there is a deal on the button cliff and we are able to rise above the partisan rancor, what do you think that will unleash in the business community and how do you think that will change the sentiments that you find when you talk to these mid market executives? >> the biggest factor that comes forward when you talk to mid market executives, whether it's

folks i have the privilege of talking to in the marketplace or just the survey results, their biggest concern is uncertainty. so to the extent that there are things you can do that remove that uncertainty, i think it is clearly going done a positive in their sentiment, for sure. >> tom, thank you very much. congratulations on the survey. >> thank you for having me. appreciate it. there is an announcement of an agreement with the s.e.c. to settlement agreements regarding disclosures in mortgage backed securities issuedly bear stearns and jpmorgan. they consented to the filing after complaint without admitting or denying its allegations. they are going to pay disgorgement and penalties totaling approximately $297 million. as you can see there, the stock right now unchanged at 39.39. thank you. looked like we were going to head negative on the markets but

we seem to have stabilized. sew ma mowdy is at the nasdaq. hoe is it looking there? >> we did see a dramatic turnaround in the nasdaq composite on those fiscal cliff comments. however, keep in mind the nasdaq is still in correction territory. 10% off of its mid-september high. we need to cross 2877 in order to get out of that. apple shares paring losses as well. back in the green but still down on the week. dell's profitability hit by lower pc sales. brian marshall at isi wrote in his note last night it is hard to get excited about the story now. sears holdings, another stock to bring to your attention. worst performing stock on the nasdaq 100. same-store sales dropping on weaker demand. a quick check on social media stocks and how that sector is faring. facebook actually outperforming the pack. it's on track to close at a four-month high, extending its post lock-up rally. if you're looking for a bright

spot in tech, facebook is up better than 5.5%. >> i guess we should mention sears has quite a small public float. if you were to go in shorting, you would get the bang for your buck that we see there. closing up on gold. sharon epperson is at the nymex. >> gold prices are steady at the close. right around $1,715 an ounce. this is after declining over the last several days on some demand worries. in fact, we are looking at a weekly decline for gold down more than $20 from the high in the week. the fact that gold prices have declined, a lot of it lass to do with the fact that we did get that report from the world gold council about slower demand growth particularly for the fiscal bullion and also looking for the fact that sheems to have offset any increases in the investment demand and etf action we've seen over the past several months. also looking at declines across the board in the metal sector, even after the cme group has announced they are lowering margins for gold, for silver and

for copper effective as of tuesday's close. that would seem to stimulate some trading action here but we are seeing lower closes across the board. back to you. >> thank you, sharon epperson. amazon's ceo jeff bezos doesn't speak to the media often but he did today. see what he's saying about the business plan for the kindle. and a question you may not have asked before but you might want to see the results. what happens when you put an ipad in a blender? find out why some would want to do it in the first place. i always wait until the last minute. can i still ship a gift in time for christmas? yeah, sure you can. great. where's your gift? uh... whew. [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. ship fedex express by december 22nd for christmas delivery.

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we're up a 21 on the dow. bob pisani has details heading into the weekend. >> 2-1 advancing to declining. volume is heavy because it is an options expiration day. everybody suddenly decided to switch sides. republicans say they're willing to put revenue on the table. the democrats saying they recognize the need to curb spending. everybody's switched positions here. that's why we got the market rally. one thing that did happen, the one loser today -- if you're buying volatility, that's just been a losing trade for two weeks now. no one's been able to make money playing volatility. vix simply collapsing as those

people came out of that meeting with the president. we have seen some signs of bottom in some very oversold names recently. finally getting at least a flat line on the dow utilities. that's after a 6% drop in the last couple of weeks. we also have oversold and overblown in the housing market. i've been asked, why are the home builders up so much? simply because the concerns about the mortgage interest deduction are way overblown. if they touch it, they're not going to get near where most of the mortgages are. trust me, i've been doing this 20 years in that area. concerns about the fha being insolvent are also overblown. about time they got a little bounce. finally, ruckus, our ipo of the day, little bit of a disappointment. $13 to $15 was the price talk. it opened at $15 and immediately opened to the downside. that's a little bit of a disappointment on the first day of trading. >> looks like it was perfectly priced to me, if you're an

insider. let's check out what fixed income is doing. rick santelli is live from chicago. rick? >> for the most part, all week, including today, what the fixed income market's doing is shadow box being the equity markets. look at an intraday chart of the 10-year note yield overlaid with the dow jones industrial average. you can clearly see that it followed especially the big moves right before and after and even during the press conference and meeting. we all want to see rise above and that was a good thing. but, here's the problem. what's going on in the middle east is really going to affect the market going into a weekend, whether it's equities or lower yields in treasuries, and both seem to be happening right now. remember, all week outside of today closing yields have been within a two basis point range. 1.59 to 1.61. right now we're below that. in terms of the dollar index, interesting. look at the dollar index going back to august. it doesn't look too bad. one of the main reasons is -- on the dollar rocket, the main

thruster is the next chart which is the dollar/yen. simon, back to you. >> thank you, rick. we are 39 days from christmas. an important time for amazon, clearly, and investors are hoping for a pick-up in the stock this season. shares are down -- shares are up 4.2% there as you can see. but for the month, for the month it's been pretty tricky, down almost 8%. the ceo of amazon, jeff bezos, was on nbc's "today" thshow thi morning talking about the kindle. >> if you look at our kindle fire hd, high-definition display, pack a lot of technology into a very low price point. $199. because we don't make any profit when we sell the device. we sell the device near break-even and then we hope to make money over time as people use the device. they buy ebooks, they buy mp3s, they buy games and that's a different approach. it's working for us. >> certainly working for apple as well.

amazon, of course, the stock for the year up now 30%. >> simon, thank you. the fiscal cliff and shifting tax landscape, which have dominated the financial and political dialogue, has prompted many investors to take fresh looks at their portfolios and financial futures. to that end, fidelity investments with $3.8 trillion under management. kathleen, welcome back. i wonder what you're hearing from the people for whom you manage money about the fiscal cliff and whether they, in their portfolios, feel hostage in any way to what's going on in washington. >> we recently surveyed our investors and they told us in terms of the issues upper most on their mind, fiscal cliff and the long term debt in the u.s. outweighed everything else in terms of concerns for them.

83% of them were concerned or very concerned. that was followed closely by unemployment as an issue and rising taxes. in terms of what they are doing about it, there are several things we've heard. some definitely want to reallocate, consider tax minimization strategies, as well as making sure that they're putting away more money, frankly, because the hill may get steeper from here in terms of inflation setting in, rising interest rates, the questions about the value of the dollar. you've got to save more just to stay even. >> as you have these conversations with your generally affluent and very well educated customers, do you advise them -- how do you advise them about whether it makes sense to sell positions based on a tax increase that may or may not take place? >> right. well, you know, from our perspective, you don't want the tax tail wagging the investment

dog. you've got to make sure you're comfortable with your plan overall. however, you do need to consider what's happening in congress over the next month and to the extent that you believe capital gains, dividend paying stocks are going to get hit and you can afford it in your portfolio, you ought to consider taking some steps to minimize your tax reduction going forward, and for example, with dividend paying stocks or mutual funds having dividend paying stocks, have them in a tax efficient account going forward. >> you're a top ranking american business executive. i wonder, kathleen, how you hear what was said on capitol hill -- at the white house today. are you encouraged that there will be an accommodation, a deal struck? >> i'm encouraged by the language that's being used in terms of both sides seemingly wanting to reach out and have more of a dialogue. as i said at the outset, at least the investors that we represent have sent a message loud and clear that these issues need to get taken care of. the fiscal cliff, long-term

debt. the folks that we advise are trying to take control of their personal economy and they're hoping the leaders in washington provide more certainty going forward so that the national economy is on better footing. >> you have a very interesting survey. we didn't really get to it about discussions between parents and adult children, about retirement, estate planning and financial security. we'll hopefully cover that at another time but one of the things that's involved in this whole fiscal cliff is big changes in estate tax laws. i'm sure that's one of the reasons you would encourage people to have conversations in the family setting about those issues. kathleen murphy, thank you. coming up next, tyler -- twinkies and "twilight." julia boorstin and kayla tausche, what's coming up? >> well, timen, twinkie's parent company, hostess, has made an announcement that will make america think of our collective childhood. that sugar rush is about to wear off forever.

plus, huge numbers for blockbusters in the world of entertainment. one from the movie business and the other in the gaming industry. see who's going to profit when "power lunch" comes back. if congress allows the u.s. economy to fall off the fiscal cliff, gdp will shrink only 3% during the first six months of 2013. [ male announcer ] when it comes to the financial obstacles

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what moves are you making ahead of the fiscal cliff? 16% say you're selling stocks. 23% say i'm buying stocks on the dip. 7% say i'm buying gold. 2% say i'm investing overseas. 52% say i'm doing nothing. nothing! brian sullivan is here with what's coming up on "street signs." sounds like my effort on the show today. 52% doing nothing. how's that any different than any other day? i'm kidding. we're going to rise above the politics of the cliff. we are looking for solutions with the president of the business roundtable and chairman of the house republican policy committee. the dow has lost 29 days in 20 days of trading. but we have names that have bucked the down trend. did the sandy gas lines get you thinking about buying a hybrid? well, we did the math. we're going to show you how long it would take to recoup the higher sticker price. answer is this -- a really long time. now back to simon and tyler on

"power lunch." >> i still love my prius, brian. cream filling inside sponge cake on the outside! the twinkie, an american passion. on the verge now of extinction and the company is pointing one very sticky finger at its union. kayla tausche on the case and inside the box. kayla? >> well, tyler, it is the end of the road for hostess. twinkie maker liquidating today shuddering 18,500 jobs by monday. 200 of those jobs here at a plant in wayne, new jersey. now today is the last day of work for most of the employees, like assembly workers and mechanics. they say they're just trying to figure out what's next. wi >> first thing i'm going do is look for another job. i don't expect this to open up -- i have a feeling this is closed down for good. >> i banked around this job. i bought my house close because i don't like a far commute. and it don't look good. maybe even have to leave the

state to get a job. >> the last trucks left plants like here in wayne last night delivering them to hostesses some 520 retail bake riz. we're told that that inventory could last about a week. after that it is done for the twinkies. employees are hopefuls that the labels and formulas will be sold. formulas for this high-fructose piece of american history will forever enter the nostalgia of the american people, tyler and simon. not many will be left. they're going for $19 a box right now! i wonder how much that one is going for that bill clinton put in the white house time capsule in 1999. that one we're told is still there. >> you have a good memory, kayla. thank you very much. very sad story there. kayla tausche. new proof today despite a still struggling economy consumers are still spending hundreds of millions of dollars on entertainment. staggering figures on a new smash movie and a new smash video game.

julia boorstin is crunching numbers in l.a. hi. >> hi to you, simon. the fifth and final twooit light film "breaking dawn part 2" grosses $30.4 million thursday night at midnight's screenings here in the u.s. that's the third biggest u.s. opening ever putting the film on track to -- for as much as $150 million at the u.s. box office this weekend, making "twilight" one of the biggest franchises ever. internationally it is also off to massive start, setting single-day records for the year in both italy and france. this certainly makes lionsgate $412 million acquisition of summit which produces the movie look like a pretty good deal. block ops 2 had the biggest entertainment launch ever with more than $500 million in worldwide sales in the first 24 hours. that's $100 million more than the record the prior column duty set last year. act vision says it remains

cautious given the economic situation but analysts still expect this game to sell $19 million to 20 million cop nies this year and next. put an ipad in a blender. who would do that and push start? there it is. we'll show you what happens in a minute and see why that blender has become such a big money maker. plus, iron mike tyson versus that koala bear. see what happens next. if congress. fails to come to an agreement on the fiscal cliff, the u.s. unemployment rate will top over 9% in 2013. ♪ ♪ ♪

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collection this out. mike tyson touring australia this week at a media event. famous tough man seemed a little bit scared. a zookeeper went to give him a koala bear, and iron mike didn't seem to want to have any part of

it whatsoever. i'm not surprised why he's -- they have sharp claws and sharp teeth. >> mike tyson in the "hangover," didn't he have white tigers that he kept? >> i believe he did. >> he did. yes. >> look at that. a bonding moment there for mike. meanwhile, simon, another set of videos have become a youtube sensation with various odd items being tossed in to a blender. cnbc took a look inside the blendtech factory and talked to the mix master himself. >> reporter: the sleek exterior of the headquarters in utah -- >> will it blend. that is the question. >> reporter: glow sticks, bic lighters, even ipads get tossed in to the company's smash hit product. the total blender. the video is a youtube

sensation, born out of tom's actual product tests. >> i'd take 2x2s and marbles and i'd try to break the blender because we want an indestructible blender. >> whoa! >> reporter: and he built one. tom himself has proved pretty indestructible as well, creating blentech from the rubble of his kitchen mill business and surviving a potentially crippling patent infringement case. find out more about tom dixon and how he beat some of the odds stacked against him on an all-new edition of "how i made my millions" tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern time right here on cnbc. here's another story about another very successful man. this time in philadelphia. on wednesday night at temple university at an annual dinner i host for the fox school of business honoring faculty and local business leaders, i saw something that not only changed 20 young people's lives but the lives of the roughly 300 other people in the room who witnessed it. the evening's main honoree was

steve korman. at the end of the night he was to present a single $10,000 scholarship for a fox school student. so we all thought. most of these kids that go to temple aren't. you could feel the tension as the 20 finalists gathered him steve on stage. whach happen watch what happens. listen carefully. >> i have to tell you, i read 20 letters. is what we wrote about -- we're lucky the next generation's going to be amazing. all 20 when you think about it are winners. and i think we said $10,000. didn't we? we're changing it to $12,000. okay? and -- did i say all winners? you're all winners. you're all getting a scholarship. >> the room erupted. it was an electrifying moment. only thing better than seeing the faces of the kids who

received the gifts was seeing the joy in steve korman's face as he did the giving. that's one face of business and success, simon, that we sometimes fail to see. simon, i was thinking about this. it was a really moving movement. often philanthropy takes place privately. sometimes anonymously. but here was an -- and sometimes those gifts are given to large institutions. but here was a moment that we were all privileged to see and we were able to see the people who actually received and benefited from the gifts. >> never forget, tyler, what a great country america is. >> absolutely. >> never forget that. it is a divided stock. it is the dividend stock play over because of the fiscal cliff? that's in the next hour of cnbc. with the spark miles card from capital one, thor gets great rewards for his small business! your boa! [ garth ] thor's small business earns double miles on every purchase, every day! ahh, the new fabrics.

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